After months of uncertainty about his status, Markelle Fultz returned to action for the Sixers on Monday night, with head coach Brett Brown making the surprise announcement just a couple hours before opening tip. Fultz’s night got off to a shaky start when he committed a quick turnover and air-balled his first jump shot, but he finished with 10 points and eight assists in just 14 minutes, contributing a few clips to the game’s highlight reel.
It was a long road back for Fultz, who appeared in just four games at the start of the regular season before being shut down due to shoulder issues — and to rebuild his jumper. For a time, it looked like the Sixers may just keep Fultz on the shelf for the rest of the season, playing it safe as they’d done in past seasons with key players like Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid.
However, after last year’s No. 1 overall pick visited the University of Washington during last month’s All-Star break, he returned to Philadelphia focused on getting back on the court this season, according to Michael Lee of Yahoo Sports. When he told Brown before Monday’s game that he was ready to go, the 76ers head coach was thrilled to get him back in the lineup and was a little emotional when he made the announcement, as Derek Bodner of The Athletic details.
Fultz’s return is exactly what was needed not just for Fultz himself but for team president Bryan Colangelo, writes Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. As Deveney outlines, a segment of Sixers fans attribute the team’s current success solely to former GM Sam Hinkie, rather than assigning any credit to Colangelo. Considering last summer’s trade for Fultz was the biggest risk Colangelo has taken during his tenure in Philadelphia, he had a lot hinging on the point guard’s recovery. Monday night’s performance in Denver looked like a solid first step toward that move paying off.
Still, with the Sixers set to open the postseason in less than three weeks, it remains to be seen whether they can count on Fultz to play a major role during those playoff games. Philadelphia’s roster is somewhat short on playmakers, so in the view of David Murphy of Philly.com, Fultz is someone who can help. But the extent of the rookie’s role down the stretch remains a question mark.
What do you think? Is it a risk to count on Fultz in the postseason? Will he hold his own as Simmons’ backup at the point? Will he be ready to take on an even larger role by the time the playoffs begin? How has his unusual rookie season affected your view of his long-term potential?
Jump into the comment section below to share your thoughts!
Fultz could seriously be a game changer for Philly. A facilitator off the bench that can get his teammates involved and doesn’t have to be the go to guy on offense.
“…a segment of Sixers fans attribute the team’s current success solely to former GM Sam Hinkie…” How can there possibly even be anyone that doesn’t think this? All of our true pieces came via Hinkie, including the draft capital that colangelo squandered away. We could’ve held onto 3 last year AND another first rounder. Unless fultz turns into a boba fife STAR, how can colangelo remain employed? What a joke…
are you down with TTP?
I’m not even a Sixers fan and I know Hinkle is the one that built them.
boba fife lol
He played great for a 68 game layoff
Love the pic.
Beat me to it.
In the short term, he nay be able to serve as a playmaker off the bench. The Sixers could really benefit from that kind of production. They may become a really tough out in the playoffs — this year!
In the long term, it may be tough for Fultz to live up to the hype created after Colangelo gave up a lot of capital to move up and get him. That’s not Fultz’s fault, of course. I still think there’s a lot of potential for him to become a key piece of the team, even if not as valued as Simmons or Embiid.
One of the big questions will be when and where he plays. Simmons is great running the point. So will Fultz run the second unit or will Simmons be moved off the ball?
Fultz will play SG off ball to Simmons.
I’d like to see a system where if Fultz and Simmons play together they split duties kind of like Kyrie and Lebron used to. I think each has their strengths and weaknesses. Simmons is better at getting up the court on a fast break but Fultz appears to be better in the half court offense setting as he has more dribble moves and can create his own shot l. Also looks like he could be a slasher if he’s off the ball.
LeBron doesn’t split duties. That’s why Kyrie left. LeBron leads the league in usage rate. Philly coach said besides shooting (almost back to where it was at Washington) he can do things no other teammate can do. Said he adds a dimension they don’t have.
Harden, Embiid, Westbrook, Cousins, then LeBron this year. And Kyrie usage was higher than LeBon’s by a tick last year, and No. 11 and 12 respectively. Kyrie left bc he wanted to be “the man” like Kobe without Shaq. Except he isn’t as good as Kobe to win it without a top-10 HOFer.
Simmons brings up the ball and passes it into Embiid. Embiid doesn’t try to run the offense. I expect LeBron to stay and play with Love one last season. Like I said I think the Cavs will draft Michael Porter Jr. to groom him.
Dude Kyrie will be all-nba. The Celts will rule the East with Toronto at least the next 4 years. I hope Boston gets Anthony Davis!
Who is comparing Kyrie to Kobe? Kyrie was the leader of the Cavs team that at the time they had an NBA worst record. They were rebuilding. It was LeBron who had to play with the superteam, joined Kyrie, and told management he’d come back if they got Kevin Love and spend whatever it takes. You got it backwards. Kyrie isn’t with a top 10 HOFer. He wasn’t All NBA with LeBron. He is now!
Do you get you got facts wrong? Corrections for just this thread:
1. James does split duties; indeed he starts the offense much less than half the time.
2. Irving left for several personal reasons.
3. James is 5th in usage, not 1st. And 12th last year, behind Irving, who also took the most shots.
4. Irving bolted for a team with a better record. James bolted for one of the worst. In consecutive sentences you said the Cavs were rebuilding, then, “a superteam”. Whatever fits with whatever dumb wrong point you are making.
5. And Irving WAS all-NBA with James, 2015, and has NOT been with the Celtics yet. Whiff after whiff.
And got what “backwards”?
Irving pulled a Kobe, except successfully, but, probably isn’t good enough to win a title as the only major star.
Shoulder seems fine. He didn’t take any 3 point shots. Had 8 assists. Keep shooting. They have 8 games to decide if they want to play him in playoffs. They have the easiest schedule of the remaining teams.
Once they clinched a playoff spot, playing him made sense, not before. These are zero pressure games. Enough to see what he has, and what he has to work on. He will get action in the playoffs, it only makes sense to get the Philly Big 4 playoff experience all together. Only forwards the process.
Kyrie left because he did not want to play with LeBron any more. He said so himself. LeBron asked Gilbert to try and bring Kyrie to camp to work it out. Kyrie said he’d have surgery and sit out the season.
If Kyrie was running the Cavs offense like an All-Star point guard should, not a small forward, he’d still be with the Cavs. I want him to go to Philly so Embiid and Simmons can try and tell him what to do.
Harden doesn’t dictate to CP3. Embiid is Philly’s best hope. Westbrook does share with PG13 (who won’t be going to Philly) and Melo 9you have 3 guys averaging nearly 20 points a game and Steven Adams is involved), and Cousins has been out for Some time.
Kyrie is 25 years old. He loves his coach now. He won’t be dictating to Gordon Hayward, Jayson Tatum, Al Horford, or Jaylen Brown. He’s a team player, and the coach runs the team, like a coach should. Boston WILL be the best in the east next season. Houston needs CP3 back. GSW will have to pay a ton like the Cavs to stay together.
If you read the news, the Philadelphia coach said Fultz shot is near what it was at Washington, but not quite their yet. He did not take a 3 point shot. Coach said he has intangibles the other players don’t, and gives them another dimension. He said Fultz would be working on his shot in the summer league. Right now is just trying to build his confidence. Coach said he doesn’t know if he will play in playoffs. He doesn’t want to mess up team chemistry.
Fultz does not need to be a star necessarily, if he broadens the Sixer attack with complEmentary skills. Which is the likely outcome IMO. They do still have something missing besides experience.
Would like to see Fultz work out as a sort of Ginobli role for the team, not really thaaaat close of a comparison but the 3 of Embiid, Simmons, and Fultz could end up looking like Duncan, Parker, and Ginobli just from the system/offensive side of the game at times. Obviously they run a similar system to the Spurs with Brett Brown being one of those coaches from Pops tree or whatever but I think there’s some small similarities to what the future could hold.